Door decorations are a popular way to celebrate and welcome a new season. Winter door decorations are perhaps the most popular of all, due to the availability of winter- and Christmas-themed supplies. To decorate your door for winter, decide on a theme ahead of time, so that you can plan decorations around a central visual look.[1] Then, you’ll need to plan out how expansive you want the decoration to be; will you hang a single wreath, or decorate the entire door, trim and porch?

Steps

Method1

Making Your Door Seasonal using Wreaths

1

Hang a traditional Christmas wreath. Wreaths are a winter- and Christmas-decoration staple, and will look good on almost any front door. Tie a red ribbon or bow around your wreath to create an appealing visual contrast. You can purchase winter wreaths at any craft store, and during the holidays, local hardware stores should stock wreaths as well.[2]

The wreath should come with materials to hang it over your door, such as an over-the-door clip.

2

Change your wreath’s placement on the door. Wreaths are traditionally hung high on the door. Feel free to depart from this tradition, however; if you have a front-door window or peephole that you do not want the wreath to block, feel free to hang the wreath low on the front door. Aim to center the wreath so its middle is at the same height as your doorknob.

You can also tie a strip of Christmas-themed ribbon around the wreath and use that to hang the wreath.

3

Hang multiple wreaths, one under the other. This technique will lend a more modern, nontraditional look to your door decorations. Multiple wreaths will grab the eye of visitors and passers-by, and create a larger, more arresting door decoration.[3]

You can use strips of winter- or Christmas-colored ribbon to attach the wreaths together. Experiment with different lengths of ribbon; you may find the wreaths more visually appealing of they’re more spaced out, or hanging closer together.

4

Decorate your wreath. Adding ornaments or other small miscellany to an undecorated wreath will save the wreath from looking plain or underwhelming on your front door. It’s common to put colored or silver Christmas ball ornaments in the wreath to give it a metallic sparkle. For a more rustic look, consider theming your wreath with (unlit) candles, a few sprigs of winter flowers (real or fake), and pinecones.[4]

To ensure that the Christmas ball ornaments don’t fall out of your wreath, you may need to attach them to the wreath using a hot glue gun.

5

Create your own type of “wreath”. Winter and Christmas wreaths don’t have to be made only from greenery. Craft and hobby stores will sell wreath forms (a large, donut-shaped piece of Styrofoam), which you can use to make a wreath of any material you choose. Pin feathers to the wreath for a more natural look, or attach ball ornaments and silver tinsel for a flashy, metallic wreath.[5]

If you’re creating a wreath with materials are not stiff and pointed enough to be stuck directly into the wreath form, you may need to purchase pins to attach materials with.

All of these materials will be available at a craft-supply store such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

6

Add a poinsettia to your wreath. Poinsettias are beautiful red flowers and are commonly associated with both winter months and the Christmas holiday. Incorporate the flowers into your winter wreath in order to add a burst of color that doesn’t come from Christmas-specific ornaments or decorations. Poinsettias are available at any plant nursery during the winter; clip off two or three flowers and weave the stems into your front-door wreath.

If you have pets, be aware that poinsettias are mildly poisonous to both dogs and cats. If your animal ingests the leaves of the flower, call your veterinarian immediately, especially if you notice symptoms including vomiting, drooling, and diarrhea.[6]

Method2

Decorating Your Door without Wreaths

1

Use evergreen branches. If you want to decorate without a wreath but don’t want to stray too far from the look of seasonal greenery, you can use evergreen branches to spruce up your door. If you live in an urban area, you can purchase artificial branches; or if you have access to trees, snip off four or five branches that are each around three feet in length.[7]

Use ribbons or push pins to fix the evergreen branches to your front door. If you like, tie a red ribbon around the branches to give them the look of a seasonal bouquet.

2

Hang lettering on your door. If you’d like to spell out a word on your door, you can purchase large, wooden letters at a local craft-supply store. Paint the letters in green and red for Christmas, or in blue and white for a wintery look. Use pieces of seasonal ribbon to attach the letters together.[8]

Consider spelling out a seasonal or holiday-related word: “JOY,” or “THANKS.” If you’d like to spell a longer word—e.g. “CHRISTMAS,” “NEW YEAR,” or “GOD BLESS,” purchase smaller letters.

3

Decorate with ornaments. If you’re angling for a Christmas-specific theme but want to avoid using a wreath, use durable Christmas ornaments to decorate your door. Hang a few candy canes over push pins in the door, or use a ribbon to secure a large Santa doll to the front door (you could also use an over-the-door hanger like you’d use for a wreath to hang the Santa).[9]

If you’d like something simpler, hang a bow over your front window.

To complete the look, hang a stocking or a sleigh-bell from the doorknob. A craft-supply or holiday themed store will likely also sell other doorknob-specific decorations, if you prefer to hang your stockings on the mantle inside.

To avoid cluttering your door, use a small number of ornaments, probably three or fewer. You can also add cohesion by theming the decorations: for example, homemade ornaments or snowflakes.

4

Incorporate natural decorations. If you’d like to decorate your front door for winter but not necessarily have a Christmas-specific decoration, plan to shy away from ornaments—which naturally connote the Christmas holiday—and focus on natural winter decorations. Options include snowflakes (including those cut from notebook-sized sheet of paper), pinecones, holly, or mistletoe. Hang these items directly over your door using ribbon, or visit a craft store and look for ways to incorporate multiple natural items into a single cornucopia-like door decoration.

Consider spraying gold paint or a spackle / faux-snow color on the pinecones.

Depending on where you live, natural winter decorations may be appropriate for about five months of the year. Natural winter decorations may be especially helpful if you do not celebrate Christmas, but would still like to decorate your door between November and March.

Method3

Expanding Decorations to the Doorframe and Porch

1

Drape garlands or tinsel. If you want to expand the door decorations beyond the door itself, consider hanging seasonal garlands (often made from evergreen boughs or artificial pine-needles) or tinsel around the doorframe. You can also drape the seasonal garlands or tinsel around the exterior entryway or porch of your home.[10]

Hang the garlands or tinsel using push-pins, to avoid the unsightly holes that nails or screws will leave in your woodwork.

2

Add wintery paraphernalia around the doorframe. Make the most of your space by decorating not only the doorframe itself, but also the area in beside the door with larger items that will be easily noticed. Place a large nativity scene, or Santa or nutcracker doll beside the door. If you’d prefer a more woodsy look, stack birch or aspen logs beside your door.[11]

If you’ve chosen a decorative theme—which could include snow and snowflakes, Christmas ornaments, woodsy evergreens, or a rustic look—make sure that your decorations around the doorframe are consistent with the theme.

3

Use white spray paint to create a faux-snow look. If you live in an area that’s unlikely to receive snowfall during the winter, but still want your seasonal decorations to look wintery, consider spraying items such as an evergreen wreath or Christmas garlands with a white or silver spray paint. A touch of white will make your decorations look woodsy and wintery.[12]

Holiday or craft stores will also sell sprays designed to look like thick snow. If you’d prefer more of a textured look, purchase a can of fake snow and spray this on your wreath or other decorations.

As with any aerosol spray, do not spray towards your face or inhale the vapors. Spray in a well-ventilated area, and never near an open flame.

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Tips

If you have already hung fall-themed decorations, you may be able to re-purpose them for winter. For example, if you have a wreath with gourds on it, remove the gourds and set Christmas ornaments in their place.